Apple iBeacons were first introduced with iOS 7 and they use BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) to access and push information through an app on your smartphone by listening to signals around you. Essentially, the beacon uses your phone to locate you, but it has the potential to do so much more.

Location sharing isn't a new thing. Apps like Foursquare have allowed users to broadcast their location to friends for years, and social media sites like Facebook have followed suit. With location sharing, you can state where you are right down to the exact coordinates. But this type of location sharing is on its way out. What's next? Ambient Proximity. And all of your favorite location sharing services are getting in on it.

Yesterday we discussed a survey done by Deloitte Digital which stated that m-commerce was falling behind mobile-influenced sales. Jeff Simpson, from Deloitte Digital, felt like retailers were focussing on m-commerce, when in reality it was turning consumers off. However, according to a study done byMarketsandMarkets, m-commerce is on the rise. In fact, it is estimated to be worth $467.3 billion by 2019.

Recently, Deloitte Digital did a study to find how consumers use their mobile devices when it comes to retail purchases. Whether it be social media, email, or web browsing - shoppers using their mobile devices influence 36 cents of every dollar spent at physical retail stores, to a total of $1.1 trillion. Mobile usage is so effective that Jeff Simpson, from Deloitte Digital, expects that number to increase to 50%, or $1.5 trillion.

How often do you see little ads pop up while you're using your favorite apps? Whether it's a game you're playing or a news site that you're reading, chances are you've seen your fair share of advertisements in the mobile world. Out of all of the ads that you see on a regular basis, how many of them do you purposely click on?

While VentureBeat understands the potential that mobile advertising has, they made a valid point. "When marketers allow themselves to be confined to DR-only mobile strategies they can forget that other user experiences are important, even if more difficult to measure."

The Harvard Business Review listed reasons why these ads just aren't working the way advertisers intend for them to. The most important of these reasons are the following:

Consumers don't like them. In fact, four out of five survey takers have called mobile ads "unacceptable". How can ads be successful when the target audience has no interest in them?

The consumers that are clicking on advertisements don't mean to be doing so. The ads pop up randomly at times, or are in places where the consumer is used to using the app without an ad. This makes it harder for marketers to track how many genuine taps an ad is receiving.

So what can marketers do if they're not using advertisements? Create their own apps. Mobile phone users spend about 82% of their time using mobile apps, and while they might have 40 downloaded to their phone, most regularly use only 15. Companies need to stop wasting money on little ads that no one wants to see, and instead create apps that add value to their audience's life as well as their brands. Make an app that is convenient, helpful, and valuable. You'll have that many more opportunities to reach your audience instead of annoying them inside of the apps they already love.

What do you guys think? Do mobile apps just need to be put in a different direction, or should marketers find a new way of branding in the mobile world? Let us know what you think!